Local Nonprofit Celebrates Helping Black Entrepreneurs on MLK Day

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (702 Times, NV Globe) – Owning a business of your own doesn’t have to be an impossibility. Regarding Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, black business owners in the Las Vegas region said that by banding together, they are advancing Dr. King’s vision.

34-year-old Hasan Tesfa launched his own wellness beverage company, Sea Moss Prime.

“Sea Moss is an algae, one of the many things that has anti-inflammatory benefits,” Tesfa said.

Tesfa claimed to have grown up with it in Jamaica, but he wanted to bring it to Las Vegas, and getting started wasn’t simple.

“It was a lot of ‘why you?’ I had to establish myself, give out samples and be consistent. I had to show where I got it from and make sure it was certified,” Tesfa said.

Global Soko, a nonprofit organization created to support the growth of other black-owned businesses like Tesfa, stepped in to help.

“We have digital tools that allow people to get access to microfinancing and e-commerce systems that allow people to go global,” Director of Operations for Global Soko Tommy Richardson said.

Attended the Monday Martin Luther King Jr. Day procession where Richardson was present.

“We are allowing the people who MLK addressed, which is the world, to take empowerment to the next level,” Richardson said.

Businesses like Tesfa’s were elevated by Global Soko by assisting him in launching his website and expanding it to a wide audience.

In honor of Dr. King, Tesfa stated that he doesn’t take it lightly.

“Toward the end of his life, he was really big on black empowerment. For me, being an entrepreneur, that means everything,” Tesfa said.